Throughout America’s car-centric suburbs, a funny thing has happened. In driving to and from work, school, and just about everywhere else, the main point of ingress and egress in our homes is the garage. It’s the service entrance. In some houses, this means using the utility room as a liminal space between the garage and the other rooms. Some doors from the garage lead directly into the kitchen. With detached garages, we park our cars, lower the door, and enter the house through a back or side door.
The upshot here is that the front door, which by rights should be the featured entryway to your home, often goes unused. What little foot traffic the foyer does get is minimal. You might head there to pick up deliveries or turn away well-meaning missionaries. As a result, surfaces gather dust, hall closets accumulate junk, and this grand entrance falls into relative disrepair. Even if you don’t plan to start directing all traffic through the front door, here’s what to know about deep cleaning your foyer. With this knowledge, you can keep this part of the house looking as nice as it should.
Clear Out the Closet
Almost all entryways feature an adjacent hall closet for easy access to coats and shoes. We tend to neglect these, especially in the summer when we’re not reaching for jackets before we leave. Part of your cleaning strategy should be to rethink how to make the most of this limited area. Do you have old coats you can part with? Look for a winter coat drive in your area. Have shoes been haphazardly piling up on the floor? Consider investing in a shoe tray, which will help organize your family’s footwear and keep dirt and grime from accumulating on the hardwood floor or tile.
Dusty Chandelier? You’re on Your Own
Many two-story homes feature two-story entryways. Sometimes, people derisively call these “lawyer foyers.” In more aspirational new constructions, these high ceilings invite guests to consider the full splendor of the home as they walk in. Due to the hard-to-reach corners and chandeliers, though, those guests might end up considering how much dust you’ve let build up. The good news is that there are useful tools that allow you to clean those areas. The bad news is that you’ll have to do this work yourself. Professional cleaners can aid you in cleaning much of your two-story foyer. But taking to ladders to clean high and hanging light fixtures is something cleaning services can’t do.
Clean Both Sides of the Door
Part of what to know about deep cleaning your foyer is that it can be an indoor and outdoor job. Your front door can pick up lots of dirt and grime, especially if you don’t have a storm door. In addition to polishing your doorknob and cleaning off fingerprints from the inside of the door, you may want to clean the door’s outer face, too. If your door receives a lot of direct sunlight, particularly when facing west, repainting or re-staining may be in order as well. It’s all worth the work, even if you do continue to enter and exit through the garage.
